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MACHINE FOR MAKING GARRIAGBAXLES.

No. 75,893'. Patented Mar. 24, 1868.

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MACHINE FOR MAKING CARRIAGE AXLBS.

3 Sheets- Sheet 2,

Patented Mar. 24, 1868.

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BENJAMAN W. FOSTER, OF AUBURN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 FRANKLIN L. SHELDONAND CHARLES L. SHELDON, OF SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent .No. 75,893, dated Zlfarck 24, 1863.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CON GERN: v

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN V. FOSTER, of Auburn, in the county ofCayuga, and State of New .York,

7 have invented certain Improvements in Machines for Making Iron andSteel Axles; and Ido hereby declare that the follo'wjng,.taken inconnection with the drawings which accompany and form part of thisspecification, is a description of my invention 'sufiieient to enablethose skilled in the art to practise it.

In the manufadture of steeland iron axles, it is now the generalpractice to manufacture the same with but one journal, one collar, and ashort b r; two such pieces, (now generally styled and known by thetechnicalterm axle,) when afterwards united together, with the journalsat their outer ends, forming the. complete axle,

ready for applicationto the ear or vehicle for which it is designed.Such axles have heretofore been made by slow and laborious processes,enti rely or mainly byha'nd-labor.

The object of my invention is to form an axle complete, with itsjournal, its collar, and its tapering bar, all by. a continuous process,and from a single bar of metal, to cut the same off when finished, andrepeat the action upon the remainder of the bar of metal; and itconsists in the construction of a machine of such capacity, and havingsuch an organism, as that upon feeding into it,'as hereinafterdescribed, a heated square bar of metal of the appropriate size, itwill, successively,flatten the four corners or edges for a. distancesufiicient for forming the journal; then round these edges, till theyform a taperin'g cylinder; next, gripe the same in, and compress orupset it'lengthwise, between suitable dies, to form the collar, and theswell on'the journal, and, at the same time, centr'e the journal readyfor a turn ingrla'the; next, roll the .'remainder of the axle tot he'proper taper; and finally, at the proper point, entail" the finishedaxle, and discharge from the machine.

The parts, in minute detail, which contribute to these ends, I will nowproceed to describe.

A is aframework, of any suitable kind, having sufiicient strength tosupport and permit the pro'per action of the working parts. B is themain shaft, whichimparts motion to the system of shaping rolls,hereinafter described, and G is a counter-shaft.

D is a cross-bar, through the centre of which is a mouth or opening,into which the bar of metal to be made into axles irnfirst placed,preparatory to being acted upon by the rolls. This month is in line withthe shapingspace between the peripheries of the rolls,a nd for-ms a restor support for the bar, I

E F are two horizontal square shafts, placed one above the other, theupper one, E, having a cog-wheel at each end, meshing into a pinion ateach end-of the main shaft. I The lower shaft,F, has at each endcog-wheels of equal size and number of teeth with those on shaft E, into.which they gear, and they also gearwith pinions on both ends of thecounter-shaft G, these pinions being of the same size as those upon themain shaft.

A driving-pulley, G, is mounted on shaft 13, and a counterdriving-pulley, H, on shaft 0.

At the centre of each of the shafts E and F are rigidly secured twocog-wheels, F, bctw een which-are firmly secured, bybolts, pins, orother wellknown means, the several removable parts, which, unitedly,make up the roll for shaping thejournal, and shaping and tapering thearm, and severing -it from the bar.

The periphery of each of these rolls, when the parts composing it aresecured in place, is made up of'three shaping-parts and a cutting-edge,these several parts in each of these rolls being identical withlthose inthe other. These parts consist -of a groove, d, for reducing the cornersand partially-tapering that end,of the bar which is to be formed intoajournal; another groove, 6,-for still further reducing all corners andedges,'and':

producing the finished tapering journal; a fiat-but slightly eccentriccam, c, gradually increasing in diameter, fortapering the two oppositesides of the bar, after the journal and collar have been formed; and atthe terminus of each of these cams, a projecting'edge, to act as acutter, these twocutters, marked at, meeting at their edges near enoughto cut oil the finished axle from the blank.

The grooves a are made.a quarter circle, transversely, and actinconjunction with corresponding grooves in the horizontal rollers,hereinafterdescribed, all these four grooves expanding gradually, bothin breadth and depth, fromitheir forward totheir rear ends. The groovesb are made each a. half circle, transversely, and also expand similarlyin breadth and depth, but the horizontal rollers have no correspondinggrooves. 'The parts in which these grooves are formed are of segmentalform, and'removableand changeable;

' the'inner endofwhich serves to limit the'beckward nietion ofthe'toggle and -slides,-and to'dctermine the extent of, such ime; i pInstead of this toggle (but not so powerful and elficient in its action)may be employed a'screw,15, passing through the rear cross-bar of theauxiliary frame, and'also turning freely in the sliding frame, as shownin Figure 9, and having ailat dish or button on its inner end. Byturning" this screw, thebarrel may be forced forward, and held'firmlyinthe'position desired; and by reversing the motion of the scmmthebarrcland. the frame in'which it swings arebrought back agaiu,,as desired.-'The head of the screw, whilst free to revolve in the'crossb'ar, has nolongitudinal movement therein.

1 The operation of the machine is as follows: The parts of themachine-being all in the relative positions, as shown in fig. 3, thehinged gate 3 and the swinging barrel being raised, and, the verticalrolls in a position somewhat in advance ot'that shown in Figure'T, theblank bar of metal is'p assed by the workman into the mouth in cross-barD far eno'ugh to place its forward end iutofthe spao g betwcen therolls,-and so that this end shall coincide with the smalleror'commencing ends of the grooves a. The machine-is then putintooperation, and therolls turned far enough to draw in the bar and takeofi' or reduce its four corners or'edges, as showniu the figure, by thepressure of the rollsupou them,

' .At this istage, the notched'spring-lever R flies into place to holdthe pin 2 upon the face of cog-wheel P,

and arrst its further revhlutiom-at the movements of the machine arethen reversed,'and this causes the rolls to run back the bar upon whichthey areoperating to-free it fromthe grasp of the grooves The -belt isagain shipped, and a forward motion of the rolls takes place, and justas the grooves 6 meet at their forward ends (the bar being properlyh'eld'in position for this purpose) they seize and gripe the bar, andthe arm" of'the axle is now rolled to the proper conical ortaper form,thus'rounding oil the'corners left by the groovesa. Gross-bar X, withits solid square die, is now brought up, so that the die shall be inclose pro ximityto the bite of the rolls, and is secured in thisposition. The barrel (with its tubular die firstinserted therein) is nowlet down. The hinged bar or gate is closed, over it and locked to itsplace, and this barrel having been: advanced to the proper positiontoreceive the arm of the'metal bar, and yet to leave sufiicientspacebehteen the dies 1 and 2 for the formation of the collar, and thescrew13 being properly adjusted for centring the arm, power is appliedeither to the toggle-joinh or to the screw 15,.whcn that is used, andthis further advance of the barrel towards the die violently and surelycompresses the bar lengthwise, and-compels it to'yield and spreadlaterally in every direction, the firm grasp of the rolls, which are nowstationary, holding the bar rigidly against the pressure of the barrel.Thisac tion produces the collar, and at thesame time the enlargement orswell on the collar, and also centres the end of the journal. The degreeof thickness of the collar. will at. determined-b mbo. adjustment of thescrew 14.,or115 at the outer end of the auxiliary frame, .suchadjustment regulating the stroke of the toggle orjoblique engine. Themachine is'designed-to beeperated by two men, one to insert the bar andto start and stop the.

' machine, as required, and one at the side to operate the side lever Y,andthe' machinery for forming thecollar. After the hinge is thrown downand fasten'ed,.and power applied to the toggle, one revolution of theshaft "which operates it, forms the collar and swell, and withdraws thedie from the journal of the axle, The hingedbsrrel is then again thrownup, as shown in fig; 3, and the die 2 thrown back, and at the some timethe machine is again started, and, asthc sale is thus rolled forward bythe movement of the rolls, the cross-barX,' withits die 1, is drawn backclear of the rolls, the action of the earns a on the rolls, at thisstage,

flat taper towards the end of the required axle, which is then cut oil,as before described, a the rolls still continuing to revolve un formingthe requisite, nd fallstothe ground, til they arrive at the properposition for commencing their action upon the bar to form another sale.

It will be-observed that by means of t also of thedies, the same machineis ado, action, or in its general construction. H The advantages ofsolid dies over those which are sectional in thedirection of their bore,and which hare hitherto been'used in forming the collar of an axle, aregreat and material. When made in parts, these parts areliable to getdisplaced, so thattheir ends arenot flush with each other, and they mustthen make an impel fect collar. They are also liable to become separatedfrom each other by the pressure when in action, so as to leauemore orless space between t hem ,,,and so make imperfect work andthey alsorequire additional devices to "be introduced into the-machine in orderto clamp or press these parts together, and such pressure must be alwaysaccurately adjusted. Further, when such parts are not in closestcontact, and under the proper amount of pressure, a sqluaredie wouldgive rather an oblon'gthan a square form, and a round die'an oval ratherthan he provisionfdescribe d for-changing the size or style of therolls, and. ptcd to' a great variety of work without any change ipitsprinciple of a cylindrical form to the metal. v p

What claim, and desirc tosecure by Letters Patent, is- 1. Thecombination, of the shaping-rollers, which form the journal and taperthe bar of an axle, with the dies which form the collar by lengthwisepressure of the bar, substantially as described. Y

2. pair of" rolls, for acting simultaneously on opposite surfaces ofabar'of metal, having dies, a I c," arranged in relation one to the otherand to the rolls, substantially as herein set forth.

, 3. Incombination witli'the' die-rolls claimed in the above secondclause, I claim the cutting-edge oi, as described.- p I p I 14. Incombination with the die-rolls claimed in the above second clause, 1claim a pair of rolls arranged perpendicularly thereto, and for jointaction therewith, substantially as described. i

5. In combination with a pair of die-rolls, I claim the devices,- hereindeacribed,-for accommodating dies of ore. as less thickness,substentially as set forth.

'6; Mounting one set of rolls' upon vertical slmfts, which revolve inbearings upon sleeves (m the Mlxer shaft,

substantially as and for t he' purposellescribcd.

7. In combi nationwitlx die 2 and socket 4, or their equivalents, Iclaim the p ointeri screw 13, as and for the purposes et forth. V

8. Th impl pved machine as a. whole, construtgd and ope ratingsubstantially as set forth. BENJN W. FOSTER.

Witpesses; I

A.QB. SHELDON, RI HARD 0; STEEL.

